Web site Design London

“Twitter? I don’t have time for that.”

Twitter Gurus followed by thousands of people don’t actually spend the whole day behind their computers overloading your feed with 10 tweets per minute (or the more realistic 10 tweets a day).

Ever heard the expression work hard play hard? Personally I think it’s a very apt saying and one that we tend to inadvertently apply in the TLD offices. We’re a hard working team with a lot of dedication to the jobs we do, but we also know how to have a good time whilst doing it as well as when we’re having a bit of “down time”.
I’m not sure if everyone is as lucky as us, so we’ve decided to share a few of the things with you that we do here in the office that bring a bit of “play” into our daily lives!

Even if you are a mellow, patient sort, you know loading speed and quick access are key components of good website user experience.

Why is this important?

Website loading speed is a factor in search engine rankings. The faster your website loads, the higher it is going to be ranked.

Moreover, loading speed is the second thing a user experiences (your website address being the first one) in a series of actions before someone reaches a desired destination on your website.

So make a good impression, don’t keep them waiting too long and put that information swiftly right to their fingertips by following these 4 tips!

A while ago I was introduced to Craig Lesser who works at a company called Smart Currency Business. They had a genius idea to create a series of printed magazines aimed at different industries – the very industries that Smart Currency works with. By getting in touch with people who could advise these industries, Craig was not only collecting good contributions to the magazine but also meeting a whole new set of people (and once you meet Craig, you want to introduce him to people as he is just such a great guy – helpful and smart too!)

But if you throw your hands up plaintively, asking the next question – “but how?”, people don’t always give you a straight answer, do they!

What does that even MEAN?

It’s not about whizzy animations or spinning logos, we know that. And when it comes to interactivity, websites by their very nature ARE interactive. They allow you a selection of different links to click on and you choose your own path. You are in control of your own journey, and therefore, by definition, it’s interactive. Engagement-wise – friendly text and a human factor are definitely ways to connect with your website visitors. You want them to feel like they are getting to know you as a business.

Prologue

I turn the key into the lock until it’s bolted, slip it into my pocket, and walk away from the door towards the street. The sky is the same hue as the asphalt of the deserted street, like I am walking on a frozen lake reflecting the stormy clouds. As I approach the Tube station, there are more and more people occupying the wet pavement. Some touches of colour show up from the wildest clothes of the magnifying crowd, gradually making the ubiquitous grey of the urban landscape recede into the background. Soon, I reach the station. I notice a great ad across the street offering a journey to Paris, which is described as the “European capital of romance and culture”. I smile – pretty proud – and nod to myself.

I often hear the internet being compared to a rabbit hole – people complain that they get sidetracked when they are meant to be doing “productive tasks”, and fall into the rabbit hole of the internet. If people are doing it anyway, wouldnt it be nice if they were stuck reading/watching YOUR published articles/videos/other content?

Twitter works best when you are you, and as a friendly open channel, the more you show your personality, the more you will be noticed and the more people will make a point of tweeting to you, RTing you, etc. As a basic rule, the first thing to do is change your profile picture – nobody wants to be an egg. Read the post “Dont Be an Egg“.

While there is much talk about whether Twitter is “as big as it used to be” or “going down the pan” you have to remember a few things about Twitter.

So, remember, by nature, Twitter is:

Real time – though you can preschedule tweets, when it comes to real time news and commentary, Twitter wins

Short and snappy – luckily at the time of writing they havent made the much talked about change of increasing the character limit beyond 140

Transient – tweets get buried by more tweets – a good thing and a bad thing

Open – you can tweet to anyone you want

So what strategies can you put in place?

Search engines are programmed to give people links to sites that most match their search words and phrases. While we don’t want you to “stuff your page” with keywords, we do think it’s good to be mindful of these when writing the copy for your site. Incorporate them where it’s natural and reads well. Create pages about one particular topic – your aim should be that for people looking for that topic, your page would be the perfect answer for them.

Although I am a seasoned social media user, I still meet so many people who find it all so new and overwhelming. If this is you, hello! Don’t be overwhelmed. Social media can be fun, and you can learn so much about your industry – not just keeping up with the latest news, but picking up ideas for you to use in your marketing.